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ENSURING RELIABILITY OF MAYS ROUGHNESS MEASUREMENTS

A measurement device known as the Mays Ride Meter is extensively used to quickly and inexpensively determine relative pavement roughness. Mays results are most commonly used in various rating systems for establishing pavement rehabilitation priorities. This report presents a set of procedures for systematically monitoring the output of the New Jersey Mays device so as to determine if the equipment is functioning properly and providing reliable measurements. Appendix A describes in detail the nature and relative magnitude of the various individual components of Mays measurement variability. The results of this analysis of variance are applied by example to routine Mays decision-making situations faced by operations personnel.